A&L Goodbody have today released the results of a Cybercrime Study which questioned 200 IT decision makers in companies across the country.

The 2015 Cyber Risk Study shows that less than a third of businesses across Ireland are fully prepared to deal with a cyber attack and a significant majority are not fulfilling basic legal requirements, leaving themselves open to possible litigation and fines on top of risking the loss of intellectual property and commercially sensitive information.
 
It was found that businesses do not have written cyber security policies in place (65%); they are not providing training to employees on what to do in the event of an attack (59%); and they are not allocating responsibility to any one employee or team to deal with an attack (49%). 
 
Furthermore, half (50%) of companies surveyed confirmed that their data is stored by a third party off-site, and within this group, 44% admitted to not knowing their supplier’s cyber security attack policy. 
 
Partner and Head of A&L Goodbody’s International Technology Practice, John Whelan commented, "As cyber risk becomes more sophisticated, and more prevalent, businesses are exposed to increasing risk to their reputation and their bottom line. Boards and senior management must have policies in place to protect their business should a cyber incident occur. An important part of this is ensuring that the basic legal requirements are met, and the survey shows that while many businesses are aware of their exposure they are not fully prepared for it.

In addition to the operational and business risk, there is material legal risk with consequences in terms of possible legal and regulatory action, and potential harm to market reputation."

Source: www.businessword.ie